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dharmavidya - events in london

Dharmavidya will be reading some of his poetry at Sukhavati, 21 Sussex Way, Finsbury Park, London
[nearest tube: Finsbury Park, or, Holloway Road] at 7pm on Tuesday 28th October 2008 :: contact details

POETRY EVENING: "WORDS THE COLOUR OF CLOUD"
28 October 7pm at Sukhavati

An opportunity to hear some work by Rev. Dharmavidya David Brazier, to share pieces written by participants, and to discuss the meaning of poetry in our lives.

Poetry is a vehicle for the communication of feelings and intuitions that may be almost impossible to convey by other means and a meeting of people inspired by poetry can similarly be a shared exploration of tender treasures hidden in the cloak of language.

Donations gratefully accepted. Please feel welcome to join us for a bring and share vegetarian supper at 6.00pm.

RETREAT: INTRODUCTION TO THE BUDDHA'S TEACHING OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
29 October 10am - 5pm at Sukhavati

A day to reflect upon what is important to us in the light of faith and love. Our lives are vulnerable and dependent in so many ways and in order to live in a wholesome and 'noble' manner we need faith in the power of unconditional love to hold us even when we seem weak within ourselves. This is the message of Pureland, a branch of Buddhism that encompasses a universal spiritual vision. Rev. Dharmavidya David Brazier, head of the Amida Order, will present these teachings in easy terms and provide opportunity for reflection and simple spiritual practice together. Amida retreat days generally provide a warm atmosphere with opportunities for discussion and making friends as well as for practice and learning.

Suggested donation: £15.00. A light lunch will be provided.

EVENING TALK: "OPENING THE HEART"
29 October 7pm at Sukhavati

Rev. Dharmavidya David Brazier will take us to the heart of what spirituality is about with a talk upon the basic principles that guide him in his life as a Pureland Buddhist, a life of exploration, open heartedness, and reverence for the endless possibilities of existence in this world and beyond. The spiritual path is the most vibrant way of living. it involves a continual self-overcoming driven by the yearning that draws us into relation with a light greater than our own.

Donations gratefully accepted. Please feel welcome to join us for a bring and share vegetarian supper at 6.00pm.

::link

just as i was pondering

When you encounter those who are wicked, unrighteous, foolish, dim-witted, deformed, vicious, chronically ill, lonely, unfortunate, or disabled, you should think: "How can I save them?" And even if there is nothing you can do, at least you must not indulge in feelings of arrogance, superiority, derision, scorn, or abhorrence, but should immediately manifest sympathy and compassion. If you fail to do so, you should feel ashamed and deeply reproach yourself: "How far I have strayed from the Way! How can I betray the old sages?" I take these words as an admonition to myself.

~ Ryokan

Ah, thank you, whiskeyriver - this is so apt for today's challenges - puts the finger right on the spot!

morning poem by mary oliver - a lovely way to start the year

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches --
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead --
if it's all you can do
to keep on trudging --

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted --

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

~ from Dream Work (1986) by Mary Oliver
Thank you, Darrell

breathe deep

Thanks to TMcG for this poem. Anyone know who wrote it?

Breathe deep,
Breathe deep

The air fills my lungs and then?
My blood receives
This grace by which
I live a few moments more,
My every cell replenished.
With every breath
A part of me departs
And something new
Is put in place

The rice that I ate yesterday,
Where is it now?
In my muscle, in my bone.
The juice we shared,
Where has it gone?
In our arms and legs and all.

Last month
The rice waved in the sunshine
In other lands:
In the low flood plains
Of the Mississippi
Or Irrawaddy;
And the fruit hung
On trees in Cyprus
Sicily or Spain

And before that?
Before that their substance
Was in the soil,
Was in the air,
Was in the seas,
Was in the seas
Waiting to be gathered up
Waiting to soar up into the highest reaches of the sky.
Waiting to become rain.

You and I
Are mostly water.
Last year
Most of each of us
Was in the ocean
We circulated together
In the Atlantic,
Or the Pacific perhaps,
For we are mostly water.

And that water was lifted
By sunshine heat.
By the impact of photons
Cascading down,
Beating upon the ocean's face.

And every Photon
Comes from the sun,
From the belly of the star;
You and I were stars last year.
We chased each other
In the turbulent heart of the sun.

So who was it that lived in your house last year?
And where will you be next week?
Who is your true friend and who your foe?
And who will you be next year?

Breathe deep,
Breathe deep.

This air is me.
This air is you.
This air we share.
I give my substance to you and
You yours to me.

With each breath I am linked
In a single orbit
With the great forests.
My outbreath is their food,
Theirs fills my lungs.
Last year
I was a tree
And the tree was me.

Each day
We gather up substance
And continue the task
Of endlessly
Remaking ourselves
From one another.

Each day
We discard a portion
And continue the cycle
Of endlessly
Returning ourselves
To others.

Day by day we change
And become one another.
The substance of the universe.
Stardust and all,
Passing through us each
And we through it.

Where were you last year?
Breathe deep
Breathe deep

::link

be patient

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves,
like locked rooms and like books
that are written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers,
which cannot be given you because
you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will find them gradually,
without noticing it,
and live along some distant day into the answer.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

seasons

Spring has its hundred flowers,
Autumn its moon,
Summer has its cooling breezes,
Winter its snow.
If you allow no idle concerns
To weight on your heart,
Your whole life will be one
Perennial good season.

 

~  The Golden Age of Zen, p. 286

so wonderful

Sometimes I look at something and I think it's so wonderful.
And then I realize I was pointing out a fact
That was as obvious as the moon.

  ~ Hsu Yun

::via whiskey river

mountain

the birds have vanished in the sky

and now the last cloud drains away

we sit together, the mountain and I
until only the mountain remains.

 

Li Po

::from Nyohoe Kesa

you reading this, be ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you
spent reading or hearing this, keep it for life -

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

~ William Stafford ~             

On Vox: summer's ending

But before it totally slips away:

The Summer Day

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean-

the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one...

» Read more on Vox